Often, transporting wind turbine blades from the production facility to the site of wind turbine or the wind turbine power plant requires many transportation steps. Typically, the blades are transported by truck, train or ship and again by truck to the site of the wind power plant. Additionally, reloading between the different types of transportation is needed. Finally, the blades are stored at the production facility and at the site of the wind turbine power plant.
Different types of transportation and/or storage systems for wind turbine blades are known from WO 2007/093854, US 2007/253829, WO 2002/04321, WO 2006/061806, US 2007/177954, US 2004/0217037, WO 2006/000230 and EP 1849719.
US 2009/0274529 discloses a transportation system for long blades comprising a root support frame and an intermediate support frame. The intermediate support frame consists of an upper frame and a lower frame. The lower frame has at its base an auxiliary element including a ball joint through which is coupled an openable and closable clamp adapted to receive the intermediate portion of the blade in a receiving space thereof. The clamp, which is coupled to the auxiliary element by means of the ball joint, is provided with a ball joint part which does not allow it to rest upright on a horizontal surface. Thus, it is not possible to support the intermediate portion of the blade only by means of the clamp.
CN 101648539 discloses a transportation system for a wind turbine blade comprising a root support frame and an intermediate support frame. The intermediate support frame comprises support parts being adapted to surround and support the intermediate portion of the blade. The support parts are provided with positioning means and stacked on a base plate. Additionally, the support parts are held together by means of transversely and laterally extending rails or bars. In the space defined by the base plate no positioning means seem to be provided for positioning the support parts in the above space. The intermediate support frame supports the blade at a point within the inboard 50% of the length of the blade.
EP 2239459 discloses a transport system for wind turbine blades comprising a root frame structure for supporting the root end and a fixation device for fixating and supporting the blade between the root end and the tip end of the blade. The fixation device comprises a fixation means which can be received in the fixation device. The fixation devices can be stacked on top of each other. Further, the root frame structures may be placed in a main frame structure. Correspondingly, the fixation devices may be placed in a base frame structure. The fixation means does not have a lower surface allowing it to rest upright on a horizontal surface.